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High Energy Neutrino Telescopes

This paper presents a review of the history, motivation and current status of high energy neutrino telescopes. Many years after these detectors were first conceived, the operation of kilometer-cubed scale detectors is finally on the horizon at both the South Pole and in the Mediterranean Sea. These new detectors will perhaps provide us the first view of high energy astrophysical objects with a new messenger particle and provide us with our first real glimpse of the distant universe at energies above those accessible by gamma-ray instruments. Some of the topics that can be addressed by these new instruments include the origin of cosmic rays, the nature of dark matter, and the mechanisms at work in high energy astrophysical objects such as gamma-ray bursts, active galactic nuclei, pulsar wind nebula and supernova remnants.